After early adjustment period, Trojans have become one of area's most potent teams.

When Timmy McGorry agreed to join Parkland's staff for the 2012 football season, he stressed a couple of points with coach Jim Morgans.

All-state quarterback Brendan Nosovitch would not be able to follow McGorry, who had been the co-offensive coordinator at Central Catholic, to Parkland. Neither would all-state wide receiver Kevin Gulyas or any of the other Division I football players who helped the Vikings dominate Lehigh Valley Conference defenses in 2010 and 2011.

Morgans wasn't out to recruit players. What he sought was a coach to lead the Trojans in their transition to a full-time spread offense.

McGorry, who helped Central Catholic make the same offensive shift and played for Morgans when Morgans coached the Vikings in the 1990s, was a great candidate.

"I knew we had good athletes, and I knew he [McGorry] could adapt," Morgans said at practice Monday.

It took time for McGorry, the Trojans' offensive coordinator, to figure out where Parkland's skill players best fit. It took time for the Trojans to develop the conditioning needed to play full-speed for 48 minutes.

Since the offense began to click 3-4 weeks into the season, Parkland has become one of the most potent teams in the area. The sixth-seeded Trojans (9-2 overall) head into Friday's District 11 Class 4A final against No. 7 Pleasant Valley (8-3) with a nine-game winning streak. They have scored at least 41 points in each of their last seven wins, averaging 45.1 points per game during that stretch.

McGorry may not have brought any players with him from Central Catholic to Parkland, but the Trojans' offensive production is on par with what the Vikings did in 2010 and 2011. Parkland has scored 435 points through 11 games; Central Catholic had 436 points through 11 games on its march to the 2010 PIAA Class 3A title and 428 points after 11 games in 2011, when it reached the PIAA 3A semifinals. Parkland has amassed 4,312 yards through 11 games, putting it close to what Central Catholic produced through 11 weeks in 2010 (4,463) and 2011 (4,504).

"The kids have done a great job picking it up," McGorry said. "Having [assistant coaches] Frank [Lane] and 'Hags' [Paul Hagadus] definitely sped the process along. 'Hags' is probably the best offensive-line coach in the league, and Frank's been a head coach and offensive coordinator, so he definitely picked it up right away and understood the concepts we were trying to do.

"It took a little bit of time until we understood the zone-blocking concept and things like that, but overall we're a little bit further along than I initially thought we would be, especially after camp. I thought we'd struggle a little bit more picking it up."

Having a couple of the LVC's best athletes gave Parkland a good starting point for developing its offense. Senior Jarel Elder and junior Eli Redmond have shared the majority of the carries for the Trojans. Together they have rushed for 1,889 yards and 27 touchdowns.

Parkland needed a few games to figure out how to best employ its 1-2 punch in the backfield. Early in the season, Elder rarely left the field, shifting to slot receiver when he wasn't at running back. The Trojans also tried to get Redmond acclimated to playing slot receiver.

McGorry and Morgans eventually decided that playing Elder and Redmond so much — both also return punts and kicks, and start at defensive back — would lead to diminishing returns on offense. The development of Jarel's younger brother, sophomore wide receiver Jarey Elder (team-leading totals of 23 catches, 440 receiving yards and five touchdown catches), and solid play from fellow receivers Andrew Fuehrer, Matt Costello and Ryan Hunt helped Parkland settle into a rhythm of rotating Jarel Elder and Redmond in the backfield.

The willingness of Elder and Redmond to share touches — quarterback Tim Baranek leads the Trojans with 149 carries — has also aided Parkland's offensive progress. Add in a line that has grown cohesive during the winning streak and Baranek's ability to run the no-huddle system with few hiccups and you have an offense that no one has stopped in two months.

"I think this is exactly what we expected," Elder said. "We knew we had a whole lot of athletes. We had a big line that was coming back. It just took time for us to click. We knew our tempo needed to get better, just a whole bunch of things we needed to work on.

"Now, later in the season, that's what we've molded into really."

Pleasant Valley will have the next crack at stopping the Trojans. The Bears opened their season against another Lehigh Valley Conference team that runs a spread offense, losing 50-28 to Nazareth. They have allowed 21 or fewer points in eight of their 10 games since facing the Blue Eagles.

Never during that stretch has Pleasant Valley seen a team as potent as Parkland. And now that the Trojans are up to speed with their offense, they don't plan on slowing down.

A win Friday would give them their first district title since 2007, when they reached the PIAA 4A final.

"This means a lot, especially after starting 0-2," Elder said. "A lot of people doubted us, but everyone in our organization, we all believed in ourselves and each other.